Redline
by Shannanigans
Summary: Set at the end of "Party on Garth". Sam is acting strangely. Is it just the Thigh-slapper? Or could it be something else?


**Soooo… this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I wrote it anyway. PLEASE feel free to take the prompt and run with it yourself. I wanted to see Sam with some residual issues after having Lucifer removed from his head. Set during "Party on Garth" after they've killed the spirit and are leaving the brewery. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense timeline-wise, but please bear with me. It skips the two episodes between "Party on Garth" and "Reading is Fundamental". Basic fluff. Comments welcome, but remember, I'm a big softie! **

Dean had killed the spirit (with some unseen help) and was now loading his drunken friend and brother into the car of the week. Sam kept listing to the side. Dean smirked, "you okay Sammy?"

"M'fine jerk, jus' hit my head when that 'sho-something' slammed me into the wall."

Another smirk. "Yep, I'm sure that's all it is, little brother."

By the time he reached the motel, both men were asleep. Dean decided that it would be worth it to carry Garth inside, rather than to deal with his drunken ramblings. Besides, that would leave more time for some drunken Sammy ramblings, which Dean secretly found hilarious. While Dean was inside dropping Garth onto the rollaway bed, he missed Sam's face turning red with lightening-like strikes to his eyes that disappeared just as quickly.

"Guh!" moaned Sam just as Dean eased open the door for him.

"Okie dokie, Sammy. Time to get outta the car and into a bed."

Sam looked at Dean with wide eyes. "Dean?"

_This outta be good._ "Yeah?"

"Do we have any board games? I could really go for a game of Clue, or like…. Trivial Pursuit or something…" Sam spoke as he tried (unsuccessfully) to pull himself from the car.

Dean grabbed Sam's arm and pulled. "Um, no Sam. Nope, no board games. We could play poker, but I have a feeling all you're going to want to do is hit the sack."

Once Sam was deposited on the bed, he did just that – asleep before he hit the pillow. As Dean went out to the car to collect the rest of their stuff, he missed the red lines receding from Sam's face.

SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN

Goodbyes and hugs given, the boys were on their way to the nearest big city to utilize their libraries and research facilities for some more leviathan studies.

Sam was asleep against the car window, facing away from Dean. Once again, red streaks reached toward his eyes and Sam woke with a painful start. "Ugh, god, my head!"

Dean pulled over immediately. "Sammy? You okay? That looks a hell of a lot worse than a hangover headache."

Turning away from the window to face his brother, Sam smiled and gave Dean a thumbs up.

"Wha'? Sam? What are you doing?" Dean looked at his brother in complete confusion. Are you Fonzie or something?

"No silly." Sam laughed. "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!" With that, he grabbed Dean's opposite hand and forced it into position. Sam won immediately, of course, partly because Dean was very confused and partly because a Sasquatch will beat you at a thumb war every freakin' time.

After winning said thumb war, Sam proclaimed that he was tired and fell back asleep immediately. Dean took that as his cue to get them to the nearest motel and find out what the hell was wrong with his brother.

SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN

After grabbing the keys to the room, Dean woke Sam. "Sammy, hey, um… let's go in the room now, okay?"

Sam slowly opened his eyes and squinted at Dean. He checked his watch. "Dude, it's only like 3pm and why, exactly, are you talking to me like I'm a preschooler?"

Dean, more confused than ever, grumbled, "just get in the damn room Sam. I'll explain, what little I know, in there."

Sitting at the motel table, Dean did the best he could explaining Sam's odd behavior in the past two days. Sam, for his part, looked flabbergasted. "I said, what?! I don't… understand." Running his fingers through his hair, Sam hissed in pain. Dean looked into his face just in time to see red streaks running across Sam's face and fading into his eyes.

Sam stood and began walking toward the kitchenette in the small motel room. Dean immediately stood to follow. "Whatcha doin' there Sam?"

"I'm going to bake you a cake. We have stuff to make a cake, right? You deserve a cake, Dean. I support you and everything you do. Thereby, you get cake." Sam stopped suddenly, almost making Dean walk into his back. "What the heck am I thinking?! I need to make you a pie! Silly me." Sam turned to Dean. "You work hard Dean. You deserve my gratitude."

"Stop Sam! Just stop!" Dean grabbed Sam's face in between his hands and stared into his eyes.

"Dean?" Sam asked, almost child-like. "Why are you holding my face?" At that moment, Sam grabbed his head in pain and fell to his knees, taking Dean with him. Dean could just kneel there and watch the red streaks leave Sam's face.

"D…Dean? Wha' happened? Why'r we on tha'floor? Why does my head hurt?"

"Slow down Sammy. I think I know what's going on. Let me help you up." Dean helped Sam to the edge of his bed and sat across from him.

"First, here." Dean handed Sam a glass of water. "Second", when Cas took away your 'devil vision', I saw red streaks leave your face and enter his, going into his eyes. That's what I'm seeing here. Three times in the past couple of days you've been acting weird, but this time I saw it happen. I think you're connected to Cas, Sam. I think we need to go to Cas.

"Dean, Cas is unresponsive. How are we going to fix this?" Sam lay down on his bed, his face laced with pain.

"I don't know…yet. But can we at least agree that being connected to Cas's crazy is better than being connected to your own personal devil?"

Pinching his nose, Sam nodded weakly. "Definitely."

SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN

After a brief and, as usual, hostile conversation with Meg, Sam and Dean were on their way.

Upon arrival, they signed in and Meg met them at the door.

"Look, whatever this is, I hope it will help him wake up. I'm sick of looking at his slack-jawed face," Meg complained as she opened the door to Cas's room.

Dean looked to Sam. Unsure of what to do, Sam sat next to Cas's still body on the bed. "Um… Cas… it's me. It's Sam. Listen, I think we are still connected in some way and I need to know for sure." Grabbing Castiel's hand, Sam waited.

Dean almost stopped the interaction, afraid that Sam might just be taking his 'crazy' back again. Sam waved him off.

Slowly, but surely, small red veins left Sam's face, ran down his arm and from his hand to Cas's. Sam let go and looked to Dean. "It's gone. I don't feel anything. I think I'm okay."

"So glad we could have this moment together. Now, get the hell out." Meg growled.

"Nice." Dean frowned. "Call us if anything changes. I mean it, Meg."

"Your wish is my command, ass-hat." She smirked.

SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN**SPN

Two states and ten hours later, the boys received the call from Meg that Cas had woken up. They turned around, hauled ass, and hoped for some good news, for a change.


End file.
